Gas prices in Southwest Michigan have new magic number - 55

KALAMAZOO - Sammy Hagar would love the new magic number in Southwest Michigan.

The rock singer had a popular song 'I can't drive 55' several decades ago, and that is the new number that motorists are seeing on Friday morning.

Many, many gas stations in the area zoomed up to $2.55.9 for regular gas on Thursday afternoon. However, there are a still stations below that number.

For example, the Shell station on South Westnedge Avenue hadn't gone up at all as of 6 a.m. Friday morning. It was still at $2.49.9.

The other stations in the South Westnedge Avenue corridor did go up. The Clark was at $2.52.9, the Speedway at Kilgore and South Westnedge was at $2.53.9 and the Admiral and Meijer were at $2.55.9. Four stations on Portage Road near the airport were all at $2.55.9.

The lowest price in the area in the past 12 hours was $2.39.9 at the Murphy USA and two Admiral stations in Niles, according to www.gasbuddy.com. That's an increase of 16 cents per gallon. Many of the stations at $2.55.9 also raised their price by 16 cents per gallon Thursday.

The highest price in the area is $2.65.9 at the BP on Stadium Drive and the Speedway on Drake Road, both in Kalamazoo.